Robin Soderling was forced to withdraw from the Stockholm Open with an elbow injury, sending Marcos Baghdatis into the finals. Joining him there will be Belgium’s Olivier Rochus.
Thomaz Bellucci’s dream run on the fast indoor courts of the If Stockholm Open came to an end on Saturday. The Brazilian fought hard and even took a set from Rochus, but it was not enough.
Rochus just barely edged Bellucci out in the opening set. The Belgian got in a deep hole, and did not appear able to dig out. The set progressed quickly, with Bellucci holding a 5-2 advantage at one point in the set. Rochus rallied at 5-3 with Bellucci serving for the lead, and he broke the Brazilian to get back on serve. The momentum lost, Bellucci was just slightly less steady on the big points in the tiebreaker. Rochus secured the first set up one minibreak.
Bellucci served well in the second set. The Brazilian sent 6 aces past Rochus, and was once again in control of the set. The difference from the first set was that he did not falter. The Belgian did not have a break point chance, and Bellucci leveled the match with a single service break.
The third set was sloppy from both men. Neither played seemed able to hold serve and a series of service breaks which eventually amounted to 5 in the set left doubt as to whether either player actually intended to win. As it turned out, Rochus was able to consolidate on one of the breaks he had against Bellucci, and he won the opportunity to take on Marcos Baghdatis in Sunday’s final.
In cooperation with Tennistalk.
